#Bereishit

[magnetothemagnificent]

וַיַּפֵּל֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֧ים ׀ תַּרְדֵּמָ֛ה עַל־הָאָדָ֖ם וַיִּישָׁ֑ן וַיִּקַּ֗ח אַחַת֙ מִצַּלְעֹתָ֔יו וַיִּסְגֹּ֥ר בָּשָׂ֖ר תַּחְתֶּֽנָּה׃

"And G-d cast a deep sleep upon the human and he slept, and He took from his side and closed the flesh at the site" [Bereishit (Genesis) 2:21]

"כִּי הִנֵּה כַּחֹֽמֶר בְּיַד הַיּוֹצֵר. בִּרְצוֹתוֹ מַרְחִיב וּבִרְצוֹתוֹ מְקַצֵּר. כֵּן אֲנַֽחְנוּ בְּיָדְךָ חֶֽסֶד נוֹצֵר."

"Like the clay in the hands of the potter. With his will he expands it, and with his will he contracts it. So too we are in Your Hands, Preserver of Kindness." [from Yom Kippur liturgy]

Thinking of the creation of Chava (Eve) from Adam's side as the removal of womanhood from Adam and affirming him as a man and Chava as a woman, making the act a gender affirming surgery, the first gender affirming surgery ever.

[id in alt text]

[ta-chazei]

The 6th Day of the Creation M.C. Escher, 1926

[centralkvetchmonolith]

Hell is so theologically fucked up for a lot of reasons but among them is that Cain's punishment is an example of what (supernatural) justice can look like outside of infinite carcerality!

For killing his brother Hevel out of jealousy AND THEN LYING ABOUT IT, he isn't tortured. He isn't even singled out for abuse. He is marked in a way that lets people know what he has done AND specifically forbids them from harming him. The punishment is to have a totally fine life in a career that isn't the one he kinslew over, in a community that knows what he's done and isn't punishing him further. He makes a family! In a specific location, like two sentences after saying he'll have to endlessly wander the earth! He has descendents named after him!

Imagine being so broken that this looks like a mistake, instead of a model

[girlactionfigure]

Parshat Bereishit on 1st Broadcasted Space Flight

In 1961, Soviet Astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel in space. He famously quipped after returning to Earth, “I looked and looked and looked, but I didn't see God.”

In contrast, 7 years later in December 1968, 3 NASA crew members became the first people to broadcast pictures of Earth, taken from space, on national media.

The message they sent with this moving broadcast were the same words Jews around planet Earth will be reading this Shabbat: "When God created the Heavens and the Earth..." Shabbat shalom!

Jewish MOM

[bdkinz]

Resting on your Laurels, Or the importance of Shabbat

Resting on your Laurels, Or the importance of Shabbat

In exploring for myself and working with others to help foster spiritual growth and change, I stress time and again the notion of seeing every step as a positive gain even in the midst of one’s pain and suffering. Too often we get caught up in not being in our ideal states instead of embracing the road we are travelling and how far we might have already come. In this week’s Torah portion,…

[ofshivelight]

the rhythm of someone reading the torah is so beautiful and i can't really explain to other people why i prefer it sometimes over listening to music, it just has this lovely lilting musicality to it that soothes the mind

[tehriz]

we started learning trope in b’nei mitzvah class tonight and i am mad with power (of chanting)

[lepertamar]

hhhhhhhhnnnggg G-d explaining how They created Themself and started the universe makes me feel like a kettle with steam coming out of my ears with glee......i can't stand this it's so much and good omg....and G-d is still juuuuuust missing what's in front of Them....!! it's so soooo dense with like, exodus cross-references....!

[thistooistorah]

I'm already noticing things I hadn't before, or at least haven't thought about in a while.

Translation (and commentary) pending... I'm clearly behind ;;;

[zeromorph]

some recent nostalgia about games I played in high school/undergrad prompted me speeding through a Devil Survivor replay to chase those last couple titles I never got, and having played Haru and Gin's route for the first time ever--hey, Atlus? hey? release a re-remake so Haru and Amane can talk more. thanks.

[thejewishlink]

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l - The Art of Listening BEREISHIT • 5776, 5783

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l – The Art of Listening BEREISHIT • 5776, 5783

What exactly was the first sin? What was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Is this kind of knowledge a bad thing, such that it had to be forbidden and was only acquired through sin? Isn’t knowing the difference between good and evil essential to being human? Isn’t it one of the highest forms of knowledge? Surely God would want humans to have it? Why then did He forbid the fruit that…

[magnetothemagnificent]

Can you explain the Jewish sidekicks post?

So. We all know (I hope) that Jews invented the superhero comic book medium. One of the most famous sidekick-hero duo, Batman and Robin, was created by Jews (Bill Finger and Bob Kane), as was Captain America and Bucky (Jack Kirby and Joe Simon). Sidekicks have become a staple of the superhero genre (although unfortunately in modern comics they've been in decline).

In Jewish storytelling and theology, the idea of the lone hero is a foreign one. All of the most notable Jewish heroes in Tanakh did not act alone- Avraham had Eliezer. Moshe had his brother Aharon to act as his interpretor, Yehoshua to act as his right-hand man and apprentice, Aharon and Chur to hold his hands up in the battle with Amalek, and when leading the Jewish people alone became too taxing for Moshe, he set up a system of delegates to ease his load on his father-in-law Yitro's advice. Eliyahu had Elisha. Devorah had Barak. While the relationship types between these people varied from siblings to master-and-apprentice to a married couple, the running theme is that all these great leaders had assistance.

In fact, for Noach, while he was considered a righteous man in his time, one of his main criticisms is that he acted alone, that he didn't make enough of an effort to reach out to others. In the very beginning of the Torah, G-d says "It is not good for Man (humans) to be alone, I will make him a counterpart" (Bereishit 2:18).

The idea of a lone hero getting all the credit and responsibility is present in various European mythologies, and subsequently Christian theology with Jesus as the singular Messiah and saviour. In contrast, while the idea of Mashiach is bit more fluid in Jewish theology, even Mashiach is thought to not act alone, with two counterparts to Mashiach, a Mashiach ben David and a Mashiach ben Yosef being recognized, as well as Eliyahu HaNavi to usher in Mashiach. This also intersects with Jewish ideals of masculinity contrasting with Western ideals. The ideal Jewish man is not characterized by brute strength and the lone wolf persona, but rather by a gentle, intellectual man with close bonds and loyalty to his family and community. (I highly recommend reading the essay by Jonathan Sexton in Chapter 5 of 'Jews in Popular Science Fiction' for more about superheroes and Jewish masculinity, especially with regards to Batman).

Sadly, there has been a noted decline in the popularity of and depiction of sidekicks in superhero media, which coincides with the increasing erasure of Judaism and Jewish influence in the field. Sidekicks are integral to the superhero medium, and it's a shame more people don't recognize their significance.

[girlactionfigure]

Weekly Thought - Bereishit

Here's how temptation works. Join me for one minute every week this year as we examine a lesson from the Torah portion. This week we start from the beginning - Bereishit.

[bdkinz]

Humility is recognizing we don't have to do it alone

Humility is recognizing we don’t have to do it alone

It can be quite a challenge to be willing to work together with others. For many of us, it can seem less cumbersome and less stressful to just take on another task instead of seeking help from others. I believe this is particularly true when it comes to fostering our spiritual and emotional growth. Yet, if we allow ourselves to find the person or persons who can hold our hand and lift us up in…

[mental-mona]

The Torah ends with the last command: to keep writing and studying Torah. And this is epitomised in the beautiful custom, on Simchat Torah, to move immediately from reading the end of the Torah to reading the beginning. The last word in the Torah is Yisrael; the last letter is a lamed. The first word of the Torah is Bereishit; the first letter is beit. Lamed followed by beit spells lev, “heart.” So long as the Jewish people never stop learning, the Jewish heart will never stop beating. Never has a people loved a book more. Never has a book sustained a people longer or lifted it higher.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l, Covenant & Conversation: Deuteronomy p.304